Rush requested the hourlong meeting in response to Kirk’s proposal to address the city’s violence by spending $30 million incarcerating 18,000 members of the Gangster Disciples, Chicago’s largest gang. He had termed Kirk’s plan to “crush a major urban gang” a “sensational, headline-grabbing, empty, simplistic, unworkable approach,” sparking controversy by invoking race-based insults.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Kirk agreed to meet with Rush, citing the impracticality of working alone on crime reduction.

Though it is unclear whether Rush apologized for his comments, and Kirk has not renounced his mass-arrest plan, the two now seem to have reached a workable understanding.

“This meeting shows that Bobby and I can work out any differences because we love Chicago so much that we won’t give up,” Kirk said. “Bobby and I have agreed to tour the First Congressional District, and I have asked him to show me the worst of the worst.”

“The heads may not be together, but our hearts are together. He wants to solve some of these problems, and I certainly want to solve these problems,” Rush said.

As a parting gift, Rush left Kirk with a reading assignment: “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarcerations in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander, who argues that the criminal justice system works to perpetuate racial castes in the United States, despite its aspirations toward colorblindness.

“We are going to roll up our sleeves and see what we can do legislatively to impress upon the administration how some of these issues need to be addressed,” Rush added.